That Singapore Airlines A380 flight by David Robinson

I could not of course get on the maiden flight, not that i had the money, but David Robinson's piece captures the essence superbly. I get the feeling that im going to like this plane, what is there not to like, its turbulence proof and imagine that first class. Enjoy!!

Size matters. That is the inescapable lesson of Airbus’s new superjumbo A380, which made its first commercial flight, from Singapore to Sydney, on Thursday.

With gigantic wings that could carry an even larger aircraft, a full double-decker body and a generally spacious interior cabin, Singapore Airlines, the plane’s launch customer, took advantage of the expansive scale of the A380, the biggest passenger jet ever built.

As I saw on-board the aircraft’s first flight, the most expansive quarters are, as one would expect, at the front of the plane.

Singapore Suites, which the airline promotes as “beyond first class,’’ is a jaw-dropping luxury product. Located on the main lower deck, the 12 suites resemble posh private railroad cars from the Golden Age in sumptuousness and size. The seat pitch is a giddy 81 inches.

The personal video screen measures 23 inches, the seats are 35 inches wide with the armrest folded. When it’s time to go to sleep, the high-end customer gets a real bed -- a mattress laid out specially for the traveller, not a seat that unfolds into a bed. The rectangular bed too, is big, at 78 by 27 inches.

Business Class on the Singapore A380

There are 60 business class seats on the A380 as Singapore Airlines has configured it. The Kris World entertainment system, with its 700 music CDs, long list of movies and TV shows on a 15.4 inch seatback screen.

A hard plastic shell encompasses the 34-inch wide seats and a plastic console facing the flier includes a space for small personal items, a plug-in for laptop computers and a mirror flanked by two small lights. Two rows of lights flank the mirror in the average sized restroom, and a shaving and make-up mirror also graces the restrooms.

The aisles in business class are relatively narrow, perhaps to make room for the wide seats, and the overhead bins are surprisingly snug, not the commodious spaces I expected.

Even on the huge A380, economy is economy. It’s certainly decent, with 10.6-inch video screens at every seat, power plugs at most of the 399 economy class seats, which are 19 inches wide. The seat pitch is a so-so 31 inches, potentially painful on the long haul flights that the plane -- which Singapore plans to fly to London early next year -- are designed to serve.

Authorities at the Singapore and Sydney airports -- which had weeks to prepare for the arrival and departure of the A380 -- moved passengers briskly onto the plane and did a decent job on returning checked luggage in a timely fashion, even if the twin bridges didn’t initially work when it came time to deplane the two decks. Premium passengers received their luggage 30 minutes after landing, economy customers a bit later. Sydney laid on plenty of customs officers, who moved the passengers through at a quick clip. Beside here is Captain Robert Ting who piloted the aircraft together with the CEO of Singapore airlines. Lucky fellas.

Banjul Accord Group Meeting Monrovia Liberia

Illitrus, Haaba and Moi with Bill Hess FAA
Nigerian Delegation headed by Ms I. O. Sosina
The Nigerian Delegation
The DG Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority meeting with the Liberian Press at Blue Lake

Liberia was host to its first major international conference in 30 years and it had to be an aviation conference. Yours truly was in Monrovia recently as Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea, Liberia, Gambia and Ghana met for five days from the 22nd October to deliberate on ways and means of improving aviation safety across the West African sub region. One could not help but be impressed at the commitment of Liberia despite its obvious challenges to upgrade its aviation sector as well as host an outstanding conference. By the way the Banjul Accord Group is an association of West African countries determined to boost aviation safety to international levels and speed up air transport liberalisation in the sub region. here are some pictures

Plane crash in the Congo again

There must be something the Congo DRC is doing wrong. The Antonov 26 plane crash on 4th October was eerily familiar. We have been down this road before. Barely had the dust settled from the crash, Remy Henry Kuseyo Gatanga, the transport Minister was sacked. Same as our own former aviation minister Professor Borisade. But the Congo is unique, half of the crashes in Africa since 1998 have occured in this country of Patrice Lumumba. The ingredients as the past 11 air crashes in the country are the same:

1. Oct. 4, 2007: An Antonov 26 cargo plane crashes into a Kinshasa neighborhood shortly after takeoff, killing at least 50 people.

2. Aug. 26, 2007: An overloaded Antonov 12 plane crashes in the eastern region of Katanga, killing 14 people.

3. Aug. 3, 2006: An Antonov 28 crashes into a mountain and then tumbles into a valley in eastern Congo, killing 17 people.

4. May 25, 2005: An Antonov 12 crashes shortly after takeoff in eastern Congo, killing all 26 people on board.

5. May 5, 2005: An Antonov 26 hits a treetop as it lands near the central city of Kisangani and slams into the ground, killing 10 people.

6. Nov. 29, 2003: An Antonov 26 plows into a crowded market after failing to take off from the central city of Boende, killing 20 people on the plane and 13 on the ground.

7. May 8, 2003: The rear door of an Ilyushin 76 bursts open at 33,000 feet, hurling passengers to their deaths. More than 100 are presumed killed.

8. Aug. 12, 2000: An Antonov 26 crashes after experiencing technical problems trying to land in the city of Tshikapa. Thirteen bodies are found; another 14 people are presumed dead.

9. Sep. 12, 1997: A plane crashes into the Minembwe mountains in eastern Congo, killing all 20 people on board.

10 June 6, 1997: A Bazair Airlines passenger plane crashes near the northeastern town of Irumi, killing all 30 people on board.

11. Jan. 8, 1996: An Antonov 32 crashes seconds after takeoff from Kinshasa's airport, skidding across a busy street and plowing into a crowded open-air market, killing about 300 people.

Old aircraft, inadequate safety equipment in airports, and poor safety oversight duplicating what used to be obtained in Nigeria. Nigeria however, has just received a 45 million USD credit line from the World Bank to improve the Civil Aviation Authority's compliance with ICAO SARPs (Standard and Recommended Practices), instead of firing Gatanga, Joseph Kabila should have sought ways to strengthen the regulatory body’s oversight capacity. After all Gatanga just weeks ago banned all Antonov planes from operating in the Congo , only to reverse his decision evidently due from political interference. Therein is a lesson: there will soon be yet another crash in the Congo DRC and it will not be the fault of the Russian pilots or the Aviation regulatory body, but the fault of the government. The only lesson here for Nigeria is that we have come a long way from where we once were, but then again to achieve the very best possible safety standards, we must continue to strive. May their souls rest in peace.

Nigeria and Reelection to ICAO Council

It is time to break out the champagne glasses, Nigeria has been re-elected to Catagory II of the ICAO Council, an exalted position it has occupied since 1962. Dr. O. B. Aliu is due for another gruelling triennium. Congrats to Nigeria. Now what next? I believe now is the time to start using all this influence to remove old aircraft from African skies, starting with Nigeria. Anything less recent than a B737-400 should be banned. Drastic huh? Well it is time to do something drastic. All the work of COSCAP BAG, AFRO-CAA, ICAO-TCB, AFCAC etc. will be in vain if our skies are not first safe, then percieved as safe. Other countries are doing it, why cant we?

Chelsea, the A380, aviation emissions and Nigeria

So Abramovich, the Russian oligarch owner of Chelsea FC, has acquired an Airbus 380 as a private jet! The dimensions of that humongous aircraft are unimaginable, then imagine it as a private jet! I knew Abramovich thinks big, but this is beyond big! Anyway, we will rule out the possibility he will ever lend the plane to Mourinho and the boys to visit Nigeria for an exhibition match. Nobody here has an idea when our airports plan to start to make plans to accomodate an A380. Thank God i'm an Arsenal fan! But with all the buzz about protection of the environment, one of the surest methods would be to but more people but less planes into the air. Thats a no brainer. Civil aviation experts at the ICAO meeting in Montreal are definitely going to be in for a hard time to come to a consensus on how best to manage the effects of aviation emissions which account for 3% of the total human output of greenhouse gases. On one hand are mostly industrialised nations while on the other hand are developing economies who hope for a balance to encourage the growth of thier economies. The EU plans to unilaterally limit greenhouse emissions in the near future. Any deal they come up with must allow emerging economies like Nigeria some leeway, after all the effects of what we feel now arise from the effects of years of industrial pollution by developed economies. They should talk to Abramovich, he must be doing something right.

Arik Leasing Limited

I stayed up quite a while last night trying to figure out just what Arik plans to do with all these brand new planes. They are probably better strategists than i am and they probably have better figures about the growth of the industry in Nigeria and in Africa over the next couple of years , but those planes they are getting dont make no sense to me. Dont get me wrong, i love the fact that i can travel by brand new, evidently safer planes, but where does Arik intend to get passengers from? Or do they want to go into the leasing business?

Arik and the future of Nigerian Aviation

Boeing announced Sept 12, Arik Air of Nigeria, in the most agreesive fleet renewal program in Nigerian aviation history is expanding its fleet with 10 new generation B 737-800's, four 787-9 Dreamliners and one additional B 777- 300 ER. This order is worth approximately 1.8 billion USD at list prices. I dont care where Arik is getting its money from, all i care is that they plan on giving the very best to the Nigerian flying public and they are certainly in for the long haul. Thanks Arik.

Nigerians, Inflight service and Foreign Airlines

I have flown first class twice in my life. Once from Dubai to Lagos on an Emirates B- 777 and the other time from Detroit to Amsterdam on a Northwest Airbus 330. I did not pay for either upgrade. Here is the paradox. I would prefer to fly Emirates ‘cattle class’ than any European airline first class. Okay maybe that’s not entirely true but you get the idea. Why?
I do not buy into the white racist agenda that some travelers claim but then why is it that on several European airlines you get the idea that they talk down at you. And yet that never happens on Emirates? Or Qatar Airlines as some of my colleagues have attested to. Meanwhile 75% of passenger traffic from Africa is carried by foreign , mostly European airlines.
Im not an Emirates salesman but slowly but surely that airline is positioning itself to be the best airline in the world. Quote me. One of the reasons I believe European airlines are stagnating is the first line managers that travelers meet when they board their planes: air hostesses or using the politically correct term, cabin executives. Most of their cabin crew are monolithic, solidly German or English, stubbornly omnilingual.
Nigerians are a special breed, all over the West Coast, Africa and indeed the world. Love us or hate us you cannot afford to ignore us after all we have one of the biggest and potentially the biggest aviation market in Africa. think of it. Nigeria has a population of 140 million people and only 4 million travel by air. 3%. Compare that to 40% in developed countries and you begin to get an idea of how huge the market is. Imagine 56 million people! So while not holding brief for Emirates, i'd advise the managers back home in London, Schipol , Frankfurt etc.. please get your act together, we dont like being treated like cattle, even when we pay for 'cattle class'.

Aviation Safety and what we can all do about it

I travel a lot by air and mostly by Nigerian airlines and African airlines. Statistics indicate that though Africa accounts for only 5% of global air traffic, Africa is responsible for nearly 50% of hull losses in the world. These are worrisome statistics. Aviation is by far the safest means of transport all over the world. What can we as individuals do to make it safer for us as travellers?Most carriers in Europe and the United States operate brand new aircraft to benefit from low operating costs. These modern state-of-the-art aircraft tend to cost many times more than the cost of an older generation type of aircraft. In a depressed economy, the tendency is for aircraft operators to operate old age aircraft, defer or skip maintenance and cut corners on mandatory crew training. so one way is for us to pressure airlines to operate newer generation aircraft. I'm not naive and have a considerable grasp of the economies of airplanes. one argument would be to jack up the prices to ensure that operators buy new planes bu that model is soon rubbished by the low cost carrier business model. Many African local operators do not have the resources to acquire modern aircraft with state of the art technology, which are very safe but are also very expensive, and cost more than the GDP of some African countries. For example, a new Boeing 777-200 can cost over 190 million USD while a new A340 as much as 140 million USD. So the way forward would be leasing new aircraft. Nigeria presently has over a hundred aircraft less than ten years old including three brand new Bombardier CRJ- 900 aircraft, and brand new Boeing 737-700, several brand new helicopters, business jets and turboprops. Arik Air has even signed up for delivery of three B777 and four B787 Dreamliners in the near future. Nigeria deposited the Cape Town Convention Declaration at UNIDROIT, Rome to fulfill conditionality and open the door for leasing of modern aircraft to Nigeria. That is a starting point hopefully of something good. That is s starting point for consumer pressure.